Disappointed But Hopeful: Women's Basketball Turns Focus To NIAC
Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong for Women's Basketball on Sunday afternoon at the 2017 MCAC Championship Final hosted by the University of Winnipeg. Despite entering the tournament as the top-seed and only losing one conference game all season, CMU struggled with scoring and turnovers; two of the team's greatest strengths, and was forced to witness the Rebels raise the MCAC Championship Trophy for a sixth consecutive year.
The Rebels jumped out to an early lead of 16-10 in the first quarter and never looked back. Red River's Tournament Most Valuable Player, Raven Boulanger shot 4 for 6 from beyond the 3-point line for a game high 20 points while Lucija Golubic accounted for 7 of CMU's 23 turnovers by her total number of steals, to lead the Rebels on the defensive end of the court.
Despite the loss, rookies Remy Dickson and Jessica Marx-Houndle shone bright for the Blazers. Dickson did her work under the basket, grabbing 8 rebounds and shooting 5 for 12 from the field for 12 points. For the second straight game, Marx-Houndle shot a very high percentage and went six for six from the free throw line, totalling 10 points with 3 rebounds and 2 steals in just over 20 minutes on the court.
"We definitely stewed over it last night," said Dickson, "we became instantly more focussed on the upcoming weekend and we are infinitely more hungry to get the 'W' this time."
It's a short turnaround for the Blazers as their attention now turns south of the border and the upcoming Northern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship Tournament that begins on Thursday afternoon in Bemidji, Minnesota. Entering as the #3 ranked team in the women's bracket, CMU are scheduled to tip off with #6 ranked Leech Lake Tribal College. In their two previous encounters at Cass Lake against the Lakers in early January, CMU emerged with two wins by 30+ points, but nobody on the team is ready to overlook their first round opponents.
Should CMU advance from Thursday's first round, the Blazers will meet the #2 ranked Trinity Lions on Friday at 6:00 pm. All games in the Northern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship will be hosted at Oak Hills Christian College.
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